So originally I had the bad guy just murder my king, the father of the main character (a girl, something around 15/16). It's a fantasy story. Then I thought about having the main character accidentally kill her father, she hits him and the magic does the rest of the work. (Sorry if you've heard this before 
). Now, though, it seems a bit violent to me... some people said it wasn't, some said it was, but I just don't really like the idea any more. Just seems a little brutal... anyway.
So how about her hitting him, and he collapses (stunned/unconscious). She runs away, thinking she's killed him, and hides somewhere, because she's afraid and doesn't know what to do.
Our bad guy sees this and takes advantage of her confusion by killing the king himself while he's still unconscious, and lets her think that she did it. Might try to blackmail he or something, but she runs away not very soon after.
Then I'm thinking of following along with her coming to terms with her guilt, taking responsibility and all that stuff. And sometime find out that she didn't actually kill him. Though I'm not sure if she should find this out earlier on or at the very end when she confronts the bad guy - do you think it would be strange for her to have learned all this stuff and been mistaken all along? Or maybe she finds out from someone else that she wouldn't have been powerful enough to kill her father and figures it out along the way?
Thanks!
). Now, though, it seems a bit violent to me... some people said it wasn't, some said it was, but I just don't really like the idea any more. Just seems a little brutal... anyway. So how about her hitting him, and he collapses (stunned/unconscious). She runs away, thinking she's killed him, and hides somewhere, because she's afraid and doesn't know what to do.
Our bad guy sees this and takes advantage of her confusion by killing the king himself while he's still unconscious, and lets her think that she did it. Might try to blackmail he or something, but she runs away not very soon after.
Then I'm thinking of following along with her coming to terms with her guilt, taking responsibility and all that stuff. And sometime find out that she didn't actually kill him. Though I'm not sure if she should find this out earlier on or at the very end when she confronts the bad guy - do you think it would be strange for her to have learned all this stuff and been mistaken all along? Or maybe she finds out from someone else that she wouldn't have been powerful enough to kill her father and figures it out along the way?
Thanks!